How Low
by HomoSocks
Summary: Set three years after the game. Tommy's town falls at the hand of bandits. Ellie is forced to face her biggest fear. Being alone. This is her journey. Everyone's luck has to run out sometime.


_**How** **Low**_

Chapter I

Ellie was huddled in the corner. In a cold shed. It had been three years since her life changed forever. She was seventeen. She was alone. Shivering in the dark. It was all of her worst nightmares all coming into reality. She had been taking cover in a small shed in an old backyard that had weeds growing up to her waist. It had been two weeks since Tommy's town had fell. He had named it, Haven. Now, Haven was in ruins. Everything was good at first. Her new life with Joel, Tommy, and all the other families in the town was... More than she could have ever asked for. Joel even said to her once that the town reminded him of before. Their luck had to run out sometime though. They let others in at first. Survivors wary from the road. Families. Sooner or, later room got to be an issue. They started turning people away. Some people cried and yelled outside the gates for hours.

They had never rid themselves of bandits. They were always around. Sometimes, they left the heads of people they had turned away outside the gates. That wore on Joel after a while. The bandits only grew in numbers. None of them would pass the little town that had streetlights on at night. A bright candle in the darkness of the world. The problems were getting worst and worst. Bandits. Resources. Food. They should have seen the reckoning coming. It was only two weeks ago. But, Ellie could still here the screams. She was out on the streets when it started.

She was talking to an older woman. She had a family. Two children. A husband. Her head looked like it had exploded. Raining down a bunch of blood, skull, and brain that stained Ellie's face. The bandits put snipers on the hills with rifles they must've killed someone for. People were dropping like flies around her. She ducked behind cover. Screaming _'Joel! Joel!'._ In the chaos she didn't find him. Men were climbing the walls with ropes. They let infected in through the gate. _Infected. They were capturing infected. Sick fucks._

Ellie hadn't moved. She was covering her ears with her palms. She had been hoping to drown out the screams. Gunshots. Moaning of the infected. Tommy was the one to grabbed her by the arm. Pulled her up. Got her moving. "Joel! Where is Joel?!" Ellie had yelled at him.

"I don't know, Ellie! Move we have to move!" Tommy had yelled back. They ran. Passing a few people being eaten. Eaten alive. They got to the small boarded up hole in the wall. Together they pulled it off. Ellie crawled on through it. She was the only one that could fit. She pushed over the stacked stones at the other end of the hole that were used to make it look sturdy from the outside. When, she was across she looked back through at Tommy.

"Tommy!"

"Go Ellie! Get out of here!"

"You find Joel. You fucking find him."

"I will, Ellie! Run!"

"Fucking promise me, Tommy!"

Tommy's face disappeared from the hole. He was gone then. She did as she was told. She ran. Ellie had found this shed close to the town. She waiting. For someone to walk by. For someone to come back. For _anyone_ to come back. She was still waiting. Tears fought to escape her eyes again. They were already red and puffy from crying so much. _Don't cry. Don't fucking cry._ She cried. Ellie knew she should be stronger than this. But, the last time she was alone she wasn't really alone. She had Joel. Even though, he could barely move. Barely even speak. She could still channel strength from him. Now, she didn't even know if he was alive.

Ellie didn't move from her corner. She didn't want to move. She felt as though she never wanted to move again. Her stomach rumbled though. Ellie was able to control her sobbing for a moment to open her backpack. Well, hers now. She had nothing when she left Haven. Only the clothes on her back. Ellie was able to find a backpack in the house in front of her. Ellie didn't stay in there though. She felt too... Exposed. Ellie prefered the shed in the backyard. She found a bow in the shed. Only three arrows. She'd make them count.

Ellie sniffled wiping her nose with the back of her hand. She took out a handful of acorns from her back pack. _Dinner._ She crushed them into a paste. It was disgusting. She made faces as she chewed threw the whole ordeal. But, she needed to eat. No matter how small the meal. If, it could ever be called a meal. Ellie's stomach rumbled some more. She rubbed her stomach laying back using her pack as a pillow. Ellie should probably make use of her bow. Go try to hunt. But, she was tired. So tired.

Maybe, she was just tired of all this. Maybe, she was tired of fighting. _You keep finding something to fight for. _Maybe, there wasn't anything to fight for anymore. She lost it all. Her life was useless anyway. The Fireflies said so themselves. It wouldn't matter if, she... If she. Ellie took a deep breath. She closed her eyes and let the darkness take her.

Ellie woke to a sound. The worst sound of all. _Clicking._ Light was shining through a window. Ellie slowly sat up. The clicking. It sounded like there was so many. Ellie start hyperventilating now. She scrambled to find her bow on the floor. She wasn't being very quiet. She knocked a shelf while frantically reaching for her bow. An empty paint can came crashing down on her head loudly.

"Fuck!"

She exclaimed a hand rubbing the fresh bump on the top of her head. Ellie furrowed her brows when she realized. _The clicking stopped. All of them. There must have been at least ten. They all stopped. _Then there were several loud bangs against the front of the shed. Ellie jolted back startled by the sudden noise. The clicking started again like before. _They are throwing themselves at the shed... Their gonna break in! _

Ellie thought quickly getting to her feet throwing her pack over her shoulders. She kicked out the glass window in the back of the shed with a loud _shatter._ Ellie was getting ready to climb out of it when a clicker blocked the way. Trying to climb in itself. Ellie pulled her bow string back. It _thrummed _as the arrow rocketed straight into the things face dropping it.

_One arrow down. Two to go._

She hopped out of the window having no time to watch for the edges of glass. Ellie cut her legs up climbing out. The clickers had heard the commotion on the other side of the shed. They were on her again. Ellie ran. At least nine trailed behind her. She huffed and puffed running into the woods. _This isn't it! This can't be it!_ Ellie told herself. She jumped down a small incline. Ellie looked back seeing the clickers tumble over each other down the hill. She thought she was home free. That was until an infected blindsided her. Tackling her to the ground. Pinning her down. Ellie squirmed.

The things jaws snapped at her. It reeked. Ellie looked over. The clickers were getting back to their feet. She struggled to grab an arrow from under her. When, she got it, gripping it tightly she drove it into the top of the infected's head with all of her force. Blood squirted onto her face. Ellie pushed it off of her.

_Two arrows down. One to go._

Ellie was back up running again. The clickers were behind her. She ran out from the trees. The grass turned into stones. Ellie was at a cliff. The water below rushed. _No way. Nope._ She turned running back the way she came. But, the clickers emerged from the forest. She hadn't lost them. Ellie turned back. Breathing heavily. She ran for the cliff. Just like Pittsburgh. Only this time she didn't have Joel.

_What are you afraid of?_


End file.
